A/N: You guys are awesome. That is all. Thank you so much.

Disclaimer: Castle is not mine.

Someone Like You

Chapter 2

"Mom?"

Kate felt her son's hands gently shaking her shoulders. Opening one eye, she saw his brown/green eyes looking back at her expectantly. She blinked sleepily, realizing she had crashed on her couch after getting home a couple of hours ago. She had had every intention of relaxing for a few minutes, stretching her body and catching up on her shows, but it looked like she had passed out before even turning the TV on.

It had been a really long day and she was exhausted and her body ached all over.

"Mom, you okay?" he asked, kneeling down in front of the couch, his casted arm supported by the sling around his neck. "You're hurt." His voice sounded sad and concerned as he eyed the bandage in her arm.

"It's nothing, baby. Just a scratch. No need to worry, alright?" she reached out with her uninjured arm and touched his cheek.

He nodded, but the concern didn't leave his eyes. She knew he worried about her and as exciting as it was for him to tell his friends that his mom was a detective, he had also seen the dark side of her profession a few times in his young age. She had been shot in the shoulder once, grazed a few times and gone home with a few bruises and scratches every now and again.

Today she had very nearly been stabbed, had it not been for Ryan's quick thinking of tackling their suspect to the ground. She had gotten off with just a deep gash on her forearm that had required a few stitches and would most likely leave yet another scar on her body. Now that the adrenaline had subsided, she felt like someone had beaten the crap out of her as her entire body hurt.

Her knee was shooting jabs of pain every time she tried to move it and she knew she probably had a bruise the size of China in a nice shade of purple there. Sometimes she really regretted chasing down suspects in heels.

"Your phone was ringing." Tyler finally told her after getting lost in his own thoughts. "It was Alexis' dad."

"Did you answer it?" she asked him, sitting up abruptly.

It had been two days since she had met Richard Castle in the hospital with Tyler and part of her had been wondering when he was going to call. If he was going to call at all. She wouldn't have blamed him for not calling. After all, she was sure he had better things to do than talking to her about her job.

"No, you told me not to, remember?" he said with a duh tone to his voice and rolled his eyes.

Kate glared at him and hit him lightly upside his head.

"Watch it, kid." She scolded, but ended up smiling and ruffling his hair. "How long ago did he call?"

"Just now." He sat next to her and picked up the remote to turn the TV on, relaxing into her side. "Does that mean I get to see Alexis soon?" he looked up at her with hopeful eyes.

"We'll see, baby. Let me call him back first, alright?" she kissed the top of his head and stood up slowly, mindful of her sore body. She really hoped that fall hadn't done anything serious to her knee. "You hungry, Ty?"

"Yeah, can we have Chinese?" he asked with puppy dog eyes and she rolled her eyes at his antics. He shared her love of Chinese food ever since he was old enough to know what it was.

"I'll think about it."

She winked at him and went to the kitchen to grab her phone where she had dropped her things on the kitchen table as soon as she had gotten home. Quickly locating her phone in her jacket pocket, she noticed there were two missed calls, both from Rick.

Well, that was interesting. He certainly wanted to talk to her.

With a finger hovering over the call back button, she suddenly felt nervous. What was she going to say to him? He was a celebrity and she was just a cop. What would they even talk about? She certainly would not gush to him about how much she loved his books and how his words had helped save her life when it was spiraling out of control. That was a completely forbidden topic.

But he wanted to talk to her, right? After all, he had called two times already. That meant something, even if it was just that he wanted to schedule their kids' play date. Steeling her nerves and biting on her bottom lip, she pressed the green button and waited.

He answered after the fourth ring.

"Hello?"

He sounded a little out of breath and she immediately regretted calling him. What if she had just interrupted something? God, what if she had interrupted a date?

"Rick, hi." She managed to say after a moment. "This is Kate Beckett, Tyler's mom?" she said, but it ended up sounding horribly like a question.

"Oh, hi, Kate. Thanks for calling me back. I was starting to think you were ignoring my calls, you know." He joked and she chuckled.

Amazing how he made her feel more comfortable with just a few words.

"Don't worry, I wouldn't do that. I just kind of crashed on the couch when I got home. Didn't even hear the phone ringing." She explained and opened her fridge to grab a bottle of water.

"Long day?" he asked and she could feel the sympathy in his voice.

"Yeah, I guess you could say that." She sighed and they were quiet for a beat. "So what's up?"

"Right, um." He hesitated and she waited anxiously for what he had to say. "Well, I was going to ask if you guys wanted to grab a pizza or something. That way we could talk and the kids could play. Alexis has been nagging me ever since we left the hospital that she wants to see Tyler." He said it a little fast as if he was nervous and took a deep breath in the end.

"Oh, we…" she started, but he interrupted her.

"But you said you're tired, so there goes that plan." He said dejectedly.

"No, listen. Why don't you guys come over?" she offered, butterflies trying to stage a prison break in her stomach.

"I don't want to impose, Kate. We can do this some other time. It's okay."

"No, really. I could use the distraction. Unless you made other plans, then that's fine." She added quickly.

"Are you sure?" he asked quietly and she reassured him it was fine and gave him her address. "Alright. We'll see you soon. Is pizza okay?"

"Actually, could we have Chinese instead? Tyler has been asking for it and I was going to order some, anyway." She explained, looking for their favorite Chinese restaurant menu.

"Sure. And don't worry. I'll pick something up on my way there. Any preferences?"

"Surprise us. We like everything." She smiled and tried to contain the giddy feeling bubbling up in the pit of her stomach.

"Alright, detective. I'll see you soon." He said warmly.

"See you soon, Rick." She bit her bottom lip again and hung up.

Rick Castle and his daughter were coming over. To her apartment.

Holy shit.

What the hell was she doing, inviting them over? She looked around the apartment and was relieved to see that everything seemed to be in order. But still, he probably lived in a mansion with everything money could buy and she had invited him over to her shoebox two-bedroom apartment.

Idiot.

Well, it was too late now. And Tyler would be happy so she needed to focus on that. He had been miserable these past couple of days, since he couldn't play his video games or do much of anything with his arm in a cast. Alexis would be a great distraction for him and Rick would be a nice distraction for her.

Jesus, he was really coming over.

"Ty?" She made her way to the living room and found him engrossed in a cartoon that was playing on TV. "Tyler?" she tried again and he looked up at her. "Alexis and Rick are coming over, alright?"

"Really?" The smile that blossomed on his lips was contagious, his excitement barely contained. She nodded with a small smile.

"And they're bringing dinner. Chinese."

"Awesome, mom!" he told her excitedly. "Can't wait."

Almost an hour later, there was a knock on her door. Kate smoothed down her shirt nervously. Fortunately, she had had time to take a shower and change so she looked more presentable. She decided on a casual dark red sweater, jeans and a cute pair of dark gray flats. With a deep breath, she opened the door.

Rick was holding several containers of food that smelled absolutely heavenly while Alexis held another package that looked suspiciously like dessert.

"How many people are you expecting to feed with all that food?" was the first thing out of her mouth and she was rewarded with a laugh.

"We couldn't decide, so we got a little bit of everything." He shrugged and offered her a boyish smile. She shook her head, smiling back.

"Of course. Come on in. Can I take that, Lex?" she asked the little girl, the nickname slipping out without her permission. Alexis smiled that adorable partially toothless grin and handed the package to her. "Tyler is in the living room. Why don't you go say hi?" she suggested nodding in the direction of the TV and the red head dashed away in search of her friend.

She looked up at Rick (she was a few inches shorter than him without her heels, she realized) and found him smiling after his little girl.

"Come on, we can put everything in the kitchen." She touched his arm to get his attention and he nodded, following her.

"You have a really nice place." He commented behind her and she threw back a smile.

"Thanks. We really like it here." She told him and bit her lip. "So how are you doing?"

He put everything on the counter and turned to her and leaning against it. She couldn't help but notice that he looked oddly comfortable and like he fitted in her kitchen.

"I'm good. Glad that Alexis is finally okay." He said with a sigh and she refrained from asking what had really happened for fear that it was something he wouldn't want to talk about. "You?"

"Tired. Not going to lie, it's been a very… difficult day." She sighed and he looked at her with concern.

"Everything okay?" he asked and his tone warmed her heart.

"Yeah, just… the job sometimes sucks, you know?" she leaned against the counter next to him at a respectable distance.

"Anything in particular happened today?" he asked and she felt him nudge her side slightly, comfortingly.

She looked up at him and debated with herself the wisdom of letting him into her world, into her life. After a moment, she let out a breath and pulled up the sleeve of her sweater, revealing the white bandage that covered her forearm. She watched as he sucked in a breath and his fingers reached out tentatively to touch it.

"What happened?" he whispered, their heads close together as he looked down at her arm.

"Suspect chase gone wrong." She said quietly and looked at the living room to see if Tyler was still there and out of ear range. When she saw Rick's eyebrow raised, she elaborated. "I was chasing this guy and when I tried to tackle him, I tripped and fell. Banged my knee pretty hard and it distracted me. I was lucky that Ryan was there to take him down or he would've stabbed me."

"Kate…" he sounded a little shocked, his tone blending in with his concern. She gave him a wry smile.

"Comes with the territory, Rick. Wasn't the first time and it won't be the last." She gave him a reassuring nudge. "I got lucky this time."

"Still…" he touched her uninjured arm and she looked up at him. "You gotta be careful."

"I am. Accidents happen sometimes, though." She shrugged.

"How bad was it?"

"Ten stitches and a bruised knee. I'll be fine, Rick, don't worry." She offered him a small smile and turned around to sort through the take out containers. "Come on, let's eat."

A couple of hours later, Rick and Kate were sitting at her kitchen table while the kids watched a movie in the living room. They had decided to pop a bottle of wine and were strangely comfortable with each other's company for two people who had just met two days before. The image that Kate had always had of him – a millionaire playboy who wrote amazing books – was slowly fading as the night progressed.

They had this uncanny ability of keeping the conversation flowing between them, which scared and excited her at the same time. Little by little, she stopped being intimidated by the fact that the guy laughing at a story she had just told was a celebrity and her favorite author to boot. He had managed to make her so comfortable that they lost track of time. When she looked at her watch after pouring more wine for both of them, she was surprised to find it was already past 11.

"Wow, we've been here for four hours already?" Rick commented, surprised, when she told him the time.

"Looks like it. I should go check on the kids. I'll be right back." She said and made her way to the living room only to find both kids fast asleep on the couch. Smiling, she went back to the kitchen. "They're both out on the couch." She sat back on the chair and took a sip of her wine. "Guess we lost track of time, huh?"

"That's what happens when we're in good company." He winked at her and she laughed.

"Flattery will get you nowhere, Mr. Castle." She narrowed her eyes at him playfully and he chuckled. "But thanks for the compliment anyway. You're not so bad yourself, you know." She told him with a barely concealed grin.

"Why, thank you, Detective Beckett. You're so kind." He clinked his glass with hers with a grin and she rolled her eyes, amused. "Can I ask you a question?" he asked after a moment.

"You already did." She replied, her eyes sparkling.

"Fine, can I ask a few questions, then?" he corrected, rolling his eyes at her.

"Sure." She rested her chin on her hand, her elbow on the table.

"I don't see a ring on your finger, so I'm assuming you're not married." She nodded and he took a deep breath before continuing. "So if you're not married and I don't see a dude here kicking me out for drinking wine with his girl…" he hesitated for a moment and she waited patiently, already knowing where this was going. "Can I ask where his dad is?" he finished quietly, nodding towards the living room.

"It's… a long story, really." She sighed and looked at him, cheek resting on her hand. "But the cliffs note version was that I was young and going through a really, really tough time. This guy, Tyler's father, he swept me off my feet, promised me the moon, told me he loved me and I believed him." She took a deep, fortifying breath and closed her eyes for a moment. "Maybe it was real at first, I don't know. When he asked me to marry him a few months into the relationship I said yes. We got married and a few months later I found out I was pregnant."

He reached out and touched her hand, trying to comfort and encourage her. She smiled weakly at him.

"A few days after I told him I was having a baby, he told me he was leaving to join the Doctors Without Borders mission in Africa." She continued with a sad smile. "I never saw him again."

"He never even met Tyler?" he asked gently and she shook her head.

"I sent pictures to this address I had until Ty was two years old. But he never replied, never had any interest in meeting his son, so I gave up. It's just me and him now. Always has been. He's my entire world, that little guy."

"I'm sorry." He whispered and gave her hand a squeeze. "I'm sorry he never got to have a dad. I know how much that sucks." He offered a small smile; she smiled back gratefully. "At least he has a beautiful, kickass mom like you." He squeezed her hand again and she chuckled.

"I guess." She said with a shrug.

He thought she was beautiful.

"We should get going." He said after a couple of minutes in silence, each lost in their own thoughts. He made his way to the living room and picked up Alexis gently, so not to wake her.

"Do you need me to call a cab?" Kate asked, following them to the door.

"No, I got my car here. And yes, detective, I'm okay to drive." He smirked at her and she rolled her eyes, but nodded, opening the door. "Are you working tomorrow?"

"I'm on call. But I only have to go in if a body drops." She explained, leaning against her doorsill.

"Well, I'm taking Alexis to the movies tomorrow. We'd love to have your company again." He smiled a little more timid and she bit her lip.

"We'd love to." She smiled shyly, feeling like a schoolgirl on her first date. This was ridiculous. What the hell were they doing? "Call me and let me know when and where?"

"It's a date, detective." He grinned at her happily and surprised her again by kissing her cheek. "Until tomorrow, Kate." He said and walked towards the elevator.

"Night." Kate murmured and closed the door behind her, leaning against it.

Had he just asked her out on a date with their kids?

A/N: Let me know what you think?